February 28th

February 28, 2012

County leaders have a full day scheduled for the Board of Supervisors this week as the board has opted to cancel its regularly scheduled meeting of Tuesday, March 6.
The board will meet at 9 a.m. today in the County Administrative Center in Independence to discuss consolidating the Bishop municipal election with the Statewide General Election, county office space needs, building upgrades and road rehabilitation.

February 28, 2012

A mid-May deadline looms for residents interested in voting in the June 5 Primary election.
Anyone not previously registered to vote, or who needs to change party affiliation, must register or re-register by Monday, May 21.
According to Inyo County Clerk-Recorder Kammi Foote, changing party affiliation â and thus re-registering â may be necessary this election cycle because of an exemption to Proposition 14, also known as the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act.

February 28, 2012

Hundreds of new, full-time jobs are in the process of being added to the Eastern Sierra workforce as progress continues on the Digital 395 broadband project.
Funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly referred to as the Stimulus Act, the project involves building a fiber-optic backbone along a 583-mile stretch of U.S. 395 through the Eastern Sierra.
By the time project leaders break ground this spring, they estimate they will have hired close to 300 laborers, professionals and tradesmen from local communities along the U.S. 395 corridor.

February 27th

February 27, 2012

As the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District debate the future of dust mitigation on Owens Lake, another issue has come to light that may delay projects currently in the works.
Kathy Bancroft, historical preservation officer for the Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Tribe, said Owens Lake and its surrounding area are home to a number of historical sites with tribal significance.

February 27, 2012

Law enforcement officials in Utah are searching for a man with ties to Inyo County who they say may be armed and dangerous.
Troy James Knapp, 44, has been identified as a long-sought suspect in the burglaries of more than two dozen remote cabins in the wilderness near Zion National Park.
Knappâs story is reminiscent of the infamous Ballarat Bandit of Inyo County, who eluded police for years while preying upon the campsites and remote dwellings in small, southeast Inyo County and western Nevada towns.

February 27, 2012

A telephone scam preying on residentsâ fears, sympathies and familial instincts has reared its head once again in the Owens Valley.
Commonly known as the âGrandparents Scam,â the scheme appears to be recirculating through the Bishop area, where at least one resident was cheated out of an undisclosed, but substantial amount of money.
According to the Bishop Police Department, the victim had wired the money to an address in Mexico City, where she thought the funds would be used to bail her family member out of jail.

February 23rd

February 23, 2012

Inyo County took another step this week towards separating its senior programs from Mono Countyâs.
Inyo County Health and Human Services, earlier this week, submitted a letter to the California Department of Aging expressing interest in becoming the designated Area Agency on Aging for Inyo County.
Last year, Inyo County sent a request to Mono County, asking them to pitch more money into the joint program to help cover administrative costs (which Inyo County has traditionally funded).

February 22nd

February 22, 2012

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is saying it has fulfilled its legal obligation to mitigate impacts of dust blowing off Owens Lake.
In a presentation to Great Basin last week, the LADWP said that it is not solely responsible for dust blowing off the lake and that dust was an issue in the Owens Valley long before the Southern California utility began exporting water from the area.
In short, the LADWP said it believes it has done all it is required to on the lake.
Great Basin Air Pollution Control District Director Ted Schade said the LADWPâs position is ânonsense.â

February 22, 2012

Owensville RC Club members and their scaled-down dirt-track race cars have a new, permanent home.
The club had been set up temporarily in an area of the Tri-County Fairgrounds designated for 4-H animals while the members worked on approval from the City of Bishop for a spot at the park. After objections were filed by residents near the park, the club withdrew its application and Jim Tatum, CEO of the Tri-County Fairgrounds stepped up with a solution: just under an acre of land on the north end of the fairgrounds, facing North Sierra Highway near the Bishop Veterinary Hospital.

February 21st

February 21, 2012

For its first official, full-length theater production, the Writers Actors Guild will be staging an adaptation of one of the most popular and widely praised memoirs of the modern era.
In doing so, WAG hopes “Tuesdays with Morrie” will provide the fledgling collective with both the support and foundation needed to stage future, original productions penned by its members.